Clinics ranked state law enforcement
response lower. State law enforcement response was identified
as by 15.5% of clinics as excellent, 24.5% as good, and 8.1% as
poor. These results, however, showed significant improvement
in state response since 1994, when 7.3% of clinics reported state
response as excellent, 15.9% as good, and 8.9% as poor.

The 1995 survey results also suggested
that clinics were interacting more with law enforcement officials
at all levels than in the past. In 1995, only 15% of clinics
responded "don't know" to questions abou local law enforcement
response, compared with 22.9% in 1994. Slightly over one half
of clinics (51.9%) were unable to describe state law enforcement
response to clinic violence, but this still represented improvement
since 1994 when 67.8% could not characterize state enforcement
efforts. Similarly, 35.8% of clinics in 1995 responded dont
know when asked to rank federal law enforcement response,
compared with 60.2% in 1994.

Another measure found a significant
number of clinics in 1995 interacted with federal officials.
Over two-thirds (68.1%) of clinics reported that they had been
contacted by U.S. marshals about clinic violence.

Most clinics reported little change
in local, state, or federal response to clinic violence when asked
to compare 1995 levels of response with their experiences in 1994.
The plurality of clinics said local (46.1%), state (40.6%), and
federal (42.3%) response Òremained the sameÓ as
in the previous year. Very few clinics reported that law enforcement
response at any level had declined.

Clinics reported the most improvement
in local law enforcement response, followed by federal response.
Of the clinics, 34.5% said local law enforcement response had
improved, while 26.5% noted improvements in response
from federal law enforcement. 17.7% of clinics said state law
enforcement response had improved.

Levels of Violence Correlate with Law Enforcement Response

A clear relationship between
clinic violence and law enforcement response emerged from the
1995 survey data. Only 11% of clinics reporting excellent
local law enforcement experienced high levels of violence, compared
with 33.3% of clinics who reported poor law enforcement response.

A similar pattern appeared in relation
to state law enforcement response. Of those clinics experiencing
a poor state law enforcement response, 28% report high levels
of clinic violence; only 14.6% of clinics reporting excellent
state law enforcement response experienced high levels of violence.

Death threats, in particular,
are consistently related to local, state, and federal law enforcement
response. Better law enforcement response corresponded
with fewer death threats. Bombings/bomb threats, vandalism, and
death threats had statistically significant relationships with
federal law enforcement response. Statistically significant relationships
also were found between local law enforcement response and death
threats, stalking, vandalism, blockades, and invasions. Stalking
and death threats were the only two types of violence that correlated
with state law enforcement response at a significant level.